The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Rally! → Any advice for First Time Rally drivers?
Looking for advice on how to prepare for Lemons rally. Signed up for Virginia Clunkers in Feb. I know nothing more about the event except what is on the website. How long are the days? What to expect for checkpoints? How to improve the fun?.....
Days are as long as you make them. If you jump out take a picture of each stop and keeping going, days will be shorter. There will be stops that you will want to take some tome to take in the greatness, and definitely do that. Checkpoints can be a big monument/statue/public art piece or simply a road marker noting something used to be here. I believe each rally has bonus points for a stop that is well out of the way if you are adventurous. There will be other challenges along the way as well that will tie into the city you are passing through. This might be to recreate a movie scene at a historic place, impersonate Elvis in front of his statue, protest at GM for Saturn to come back, etc.
Route choice is also a big factor in time. Are you comfortable with back roads and can your car manage poor road conditions should you come to them or do you need to backtrack to major roads.
You can save some time taking a few minutes each night looking up the stops for the next day so you aren't sitting on the side of the highway trying to find an obscure sculpture in the middle of a corn field on your phone with poor reception. We made sure to minimize time at the minor stops to give us more time at the place we knew we would like to explore more.
After the first few stops, the teams will start to spread out, but find a couple of teams with similar goals and convoy for more fun.
Days are as long as you make them. If you jump out take a picture of each stop and keeping going, days will be shorter. There will be stops that you will want to take some tome to take in the greatness, and definitely do that. Checkpoints can be a big monument/statue/public art piece or simply a road marker noting something used to be here. I believe each rally has bonus points for a stop that is well out of the way if you are adventurous. There will be other challenges along the way as well that will tie into the city you are passing through. This might be to recreate a movie scene at a historic place, impersonate Elvis in front of his statue, protest at GM for Saturn to come back, etc.
Route choice is also a big factor in time. Are you comfortable with back roads and can your car manage poor road conditions should you come to them or do you need to backtrack to major roads.
You can save some time taking a few minutes each night looking up the stops for the next day so you aren't sitting on the side of the highway trying to find an obscure sculpture in the middle of a corn field on your phone with poor reception. We made sure to minimize time at the minor stops to give us more time at the place we knew we would like to explore more.
After the first few stops, the teams will start to spread out, but find a couple of teams with similar goals and convoy for more fun.
Nailed it.
I'd add: If there's something on the route you want to do or you've wanted to see always...just go see it. Make a token post about it and you'll get points for doing that, especially if you do it instead of a checkpoint or two. Life's too short to skip something that you want to do or see.
Also, if I had a dollar for every rally person that has gone back to a checkpoint (or several of them) to spend more time there after the rally, I could probably buy a clapped-out LeSabre.
Days are as long as you make them.
To be a bit more quantitative, I've done four rallies so far and the shortest full day I've experienced was around ten hours. Most days have been, ah, well let's just say it's possible to select faster cars than I have and to be more efficient than I've been. I've heard rumors that those who finish the day earlier will sometimes meet to socialize in the evening...
I prefer taking my road trip car as it is more suitable for travel (especially if the way to a checkpoint is on unpaved or rough roads--it has upgraded brakes, all-terrain tires, slight lift, etc.), but I'll never win on points by doing that. And, gas mileage sucks.
In 2022, I used the spare car and had only two issues on the Great River Road rally (one was a tree branch wedged in the rear suspension that rubbed on the tire, and the other a check engine light from a fouled O2 sensor), and at least with that car, I could get a couple more points as it's currently 20 model years old...but still too "reliable" to ever get enough points to win anything.
Basically saying here, bring whatever you want to drive (getting extra points for hooptieness, and whatever you feel comfortable taking over long distances in rural areas), and enjoy the route.
I don't have a competitive bone in my body (except with Mario Kart), so I don't care if I ever come close to winning. As long as my points are counted and I'm in the middle of the pack, it's all good. A full day is probably 10-12 hours. Get anything you need on the road (especially food) when passing through larger cities, as once you're out in rural stretches, the food is usually awful (fast food, etc.).
I also found it's not worth beating myself up over checkpoints. I try to hit all of them but, as I had an issue with a couple checkpoints in a row last year, I ended up skipping two that followed since I was losing time and getting a bit cheesed off. If things get frustrating, take a breath, relax, and remind yourself you are in this for fun.
Finally, take a hint from those of us who are into the history side of it--take the time to read up on the checkpoints, even after you've completed the rally. Like Eric says, there are some places I have returned to from past rallies (especially the Rocky Mountain rallies*), and I have a growing list of places I want to return to. These rallies make you appreciate the two-lane roads that form the web of this country's network of US, state, and county roads that we overlook when traveling the Interstate Highway System.
Don't fret the details! Bring what you need (clothing, food and water, tools, navigation aids), and show up. Whatever you don't get at the driver's meeting, you'll get from new acquaintances you make during the rally.
One final note/warning: Virginia is notorious for strictly enforcing traffic laws. Lemons Rally rules already mention obeying traffic laws (and please do--it is NOT a race!), but I'd be extra careful traveling through the state.
* One return trip I've done--last summer, we took the Cumbres & Toltec rail trip, taking a motor coach from Alamosa CO to Chama NM, then returned via steam train. C&T was a checkpoint on the 2022 rally.
Get up at 6 every morning, get to the hotel between 10 and midnight, and you're golden. If that seems like a long day to you, then yeah, there can be long days. But those are the most fun days...when you finally get home, you know you did something!
The way to maximize fun is to have a fun attitude...so even when things get wonky, you're still having fun. Getting lost is part of the fun. Fixing your piece of crap, or dealing with how bad it is, is part of the fun. Having adventures in new places and meeting new people is part of the fun. Plenty of opportunity.
Thanks everyone, all good advice. We'll just take it easy for our first Rally. Hope to see you there.
Andy
One last bit of advice--there is no requirement to stay at the recommended hotels. I only do the rallies if I can shop around and get the best rates at a hotel I am comfortable staying in. I have a lot of Wyndham points accumulated, so I tend to stay at one of their brands as I can get a discounted room rate (and collect more points), or a free room.
You do miss out on meeting up with other rally friends afterwards (same if you skip the end-of-day meets), but there often isn't time anyway. I do rallies solo. I have a quick dinner and catch up on posting checkpoints, and head right to the room to prepare for the following day's checkpoints. It's a lot to fit all into one day.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Rally! → Any advice for First Time Rally drivers?